Some electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and similar electric motored vehicles employ the electric power of a power storage device, represented by a secondary battery, to drive a vehicle driving electric motor. For such vehicles, there is proposed a configuration employing a power supply external to the vehicle (hereinafter also simply referred to as an “external power supply”) to electrically charge the power storage device mounted on the vehicle. Hereinafter, employing an external power supply to electrically charge a power storage device will also be referred to as “externally electrically charging” or the like.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-88908 (PTL 1) describes electrically charging a vehicle-mounted battery from a commercial power supply via an isolation transformer. PTL 1 describes that a battery charger is configured with a component also serving as that of an inverter controlling a vehicle driving electric motor.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-274479 (PTL 2) also describes a configuration including an isolation transformer 330 as a charger for electrically charging a vehicle-mounted power storage device from an external power supply.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-225587 (PTL 3) also describes a configuration employing an external power supply for externally electrically charging a main battery mounted on an electric motored vehicle. PTL 3 indicates a configuration in which a conduction path for electrically charging the main battery from the external power supply and a conduction path formed between the main battery and a vehicle driving electric motor when the vehicle travels are independent from each other.